Chapter XXV

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+PUBLIC SQUARES.+ Much attention was given to the embellishment of open spaces in the cities, for which the classic style was admirably suited. The most important work of this kind was that on the north side of the Place de la Concorde, Paris. This splendid square, perhaps, on the whole, the finest in Europe (though many of its best features belong to a later date), was at this time adorned with the two monumental colonnades by _Gabriel_. These colonnades, which form the decorative fronts for blocks of houses, deserve praise for the beauty of their proportions, as well as for the excellent treatment of the arcade on which they rest, and of the pavilions at the ends.

+IN GENERAL.+ French Renaissance architecture is marked by good proportions and harmonious and appropriate detail. Its most interesting phase was unquestionably that of Francis I., so far, at least, as concerns exterior design. It steadily progressed, however, in its mastery of planning; and in its use of projecting pavilions crowned by dominant masses of roof, it succeeded in preserving, even in severely classic designs, a picturesqueness and variety otherwise impossible. Roofs, dormers, chimneys, and staircases it treated with especial success; and in these matters, as well as in monumental dispositions of plan, the French have largely retained their pre-eminence to our own day.

+MONUMENTS.+ (Mainly supplementary to text. Ch. = château; P. = palace; C. = cathedral; Chu. = church; H. = hôtel; T.H. = town hall.)

TRANSITION: Blois, E. wing, 1499; Ch. Meillant; Ch. Chaumont; T.H. Amboise, 1502-05.

FRANCIS I.: Ch. Nantouillet, 1517-25; Ch. Blois, W. wing (afterward demolished) and N. wing, 1520-30; H. Lallemant, Bourges, 1520; Ch. Villers-Cotterets, 1520-59; P. of Archbishop, Sens, 1521-35; P. Fontainebleau (Cour Ovale, Cour d’Adieux, Gallery Francis I., 1527-34; Peristyle, Chapel St. Saturnin, 1540-47, by _Gilles le Breton_; Cour du Cheval Blanc, 1527-31, by _P. Chambiges_); H. Bernuy, Toulouse, 1528-39; P. Granvelle, Besançon, 1532-40; T.H. Niort, T.H. Loches, 1532-43: H. de Ligeris (Carnavalet), Paris, 1544, by _P. Lescot_; churches of Gisors, nave and façade, 1530; La Dalbade, Toulouse, portal, 1530; St. Symphorien Tours, 1531; Chu. Tillières, 1534-46.

ADVANCED RENAISSANCE: Fontaine des Innocents, Paris, 1547-50, by _P. Lescot_ and _J. Goujon_; tomb Francis I., at St. Denis, 1555, by _Ph. de l’Orme_; H. Catelan, Toulouse, 1555; tomb Henry II., at St. Denis, 1560; portal S. Michel, Dijon, 1564; Ch. Sully, 1567; T.H. Arras, 1573; P. Fontainebleau (Cour du Cheval Blanc remodelled, 1564-66, by _P. Girard_; Cour de la Fontaine, same date); T.H. Besançon, 1582; Ch. Charleval, 1585, by, _J. B. du Cerceau_.

STYLE OF HENRY IV.: P. Fontainebleau (Galerie des Cerfs, Chapel of the Trinity, Baptistery, etc.); P. Tuileries (Pav. de Flore, by _du Cerceau_, 1590-1610; long gallery continued); Hôtel Vogüé, at Dijon, 1607; Place Dauphine, Paris, 1608; P. de Justice, Paris, Great Hall, by _S. de Brosse_, 1618; H. Sully, Paris, 1624-39; P. Royal, Paris, by _J. Lemercier_, for Cardinal Richelieu, 1627-39; P. Louvre doubled in size, by the same; P. Tuileries (N. wing, and Pav. Marsan, long gallery completed); H. Lambert, Paris; T.H. Reims, 1627; Ch. Blois, W. wing for Gaston d’Orléans, by _F. Mansart_, 1635; façade St. Étienne du Mont, Paris, 1610; of St. Gervais, Paris, 1616-21, by _S. de Brosse_.

STYLE OF LOUIS XIV.: T.H. Lyons, 1646; P. Louvre, E. colonnade and court completed, 1660-70; Tuileries altered by Le Vau, 1664; observatory at Paris, 1667-72; arch of St. Denis, Paris, 1672, by _Blondel_; Arch of St. Martin, 1674, by _Bullet_; Banque de France, H. de Luyne, H. Soubise, all in Paris; Ch. Chantilly; Ch. de Tanlay; P. St. Cloud; Place des Victoires, 1685; Chu. St. Sulpice, Paris, by _Le Vau_ (façade, 1755); Chu. St. Roch, Paris, 1653, by _Lemercier_ and _de Cotte_; Notre Dame des Victoires, Paris, 1656, by _Le Muet_ and _Bruant_.

THE DECLINE: P. Bourbon, 1722; T.H. Rouen; Halle aux Blés (recently demolished), 1748; École Militaire, 1752-58, by _Gabriel_; P. Louvre, court completed, 1754, by the same; Madeleine begun, 1764; H. des Monnaies (Mint), by _Antoine_; École de Médecine, 1774, by _Gondouin_; P. Royal, Great Court, 1784, by _Louis_; Théâtre Français, 1784 (all the above at Paris); Grand Théâtre, Bordeaux, 1785-1800, by _Louis_; Préfecture at Bordeaux, by the same; Ch. de Compiegne, 1770, by _Gabriel_; P. Versailles, theatre by the same; H. Montmorency, Soubise, de Varennes, and the Petit Luxembourg, all at Paris, by _de Cotte_; public squares at Nancy, Bordeaux, Valenciennes, Rennes, Reims.

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